An exhibition of more than 200 cartoons about the Holocaust opened Monday as Iran's response to last year's Muslim outrage over a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.

The display, showing 204 entries from Iran and abroad, was strongly influenced by the views of Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who drew widespread condemnation last year for calling the Holocaust a "myth" and saying Israel should be destroyed.

One cartoon by Indonesian Tony Thomdean shows the Statue of Liberty holding a book on the Holocaust in its left hand and giving a Nazi-style salute with the other. ...

Hamshahri said it wanted to test the West's tolerance for drawings about the Nazi killing of 6 million Jews in World War II. The entries on display came from nations including United States, Indonesia and Turkey.

"We wanted to challenge European taboos. Why should questioning the Holocaust be a taboo?" ... said [Masoud Shojai-Tabatabai, head of the Cartoon House which helped organise the exhibition]. "Why should anyone who talks about it (the Holocaust) be fined or jailed?"

It is a crime in European countries such as Germany and Austria to deny the Holocaust. ...

"After the Holocaust was questioned by the president, now I have real doubts about it," said Maryam Zadkani, a 23-year-old graphic artist as she wandered around the exhibition.

"I came here to see what other cartoonists around the world think about the Holocaust."

Yad Vashem on Tuesday deplored the "alarming silence" of most of the world in the face of repeated Iranian genocidal threats against the Israel, warning that the Islamic republic represents a danger to all enlightened nations.

"The alarming silence of the world indicates that the West has not yet understood that what is taking place is an attack on Western values and civilization," said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev.

"History has demonstrated that silence in the face of evil statements begets evil actions," he added.